HiveBase

Guides

Set up HiveBase for local Missions

Install HiveBase Desktop on a Mac, connect GitHub and your coding CLIs, and run a first local Mission on your own subscriptions.

Last updated 2026-09-22

Local Missions run coding work on your own Mac, driven by the coding CLIs you already pay for. This guide takes you from zero to a first Mission.

1. Before you start

You need:

  • A Mac on macOS 12.3 or later. HiveBase Desktop ships signed, notarized DMGs for Apple Silicon (arm64) and Intel (x64) Macs.
  • A GitHub account that can authorize the HiveBase app on the repositories you want to work in — repo admin rights, or an org owner who can approve the install.
  • A Claude (Claude Code) and/or ChatGPT (Codex) subscription. Runs consume your own plan's allowance; HiveBase does not meter them.

2. Create your account and company

  1. Sign up at app.hivebase.ai/signup.
  2. During setup you'll name your company — that's your workspace.

Pricing today: local Missions are Free; Founding is $39/mo per company.

3. Install HiveBase Desktop

1

Download and install

Get the DMG from hivebase.ai/download — it serves the Apple Silicon build by default, with an Intel link on the page. Open the DMG and drag HiveBase into Applications.

2

First launch

Open HiveBase from Applications. You'll see a welcome card, then sign in with the account you created — email, or the Google button which opens your browser. Meeting-recording permissions are asked for later, the first time you actually record.

3

Finish setup

The setup flow covers naming the workspace, connecting sources, and a first reveal. It ends on a seats screen ("Sign in the seats you already pay for") that lists the coding CLIs on this Mac plus a GitHub row. Everything on it can be skipped and done later; Continue to tasks lands on your task list.

4. Connect GitHub

Press Connect on the seats screen's GitHub row — your browser opens to GitHub to authorize and pick the account and repositories HiveBase may see. You can also do it later from Settings → Integrations → Data Sources, or from the Connect GitHub prompt when you create a code task.

Grant only the repositories you want Missions to work in. Details, scopes, and the fail-closed writeback policy are in the GitHub integration page.

5. Sign in to Claude Code and Codex on this Mac

Install the CLIs and make sure they're on your PATH:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Vendor install docs: Claude Code · Codex.

  • Claude Code: run claude auth login in Terminal — or press the seat's Sign in button, which opens the same command for you.
  • Codex: press the seat's Sign in button. Desktop keeps Codex's ChatGPT session in its own profile directory, so a codex login you ran yourself in another shell won't be seen — always sign in through the button.

Terminal permission

The first time a Sign in button fires, macOS asks to let HiveBase control Terminal — allow it. The login flow itself belongs to the provider; HiveBase never sees the OAuth exchange.

Confirm it worked: the seats screen marks the tile Signed in. In Settings → Trust → Executors, press Test on a card — a passing card reads Ready · Claude subscription or Ready · Included in ChatGPT. "Ready" means provider-owned authentication plus a non-mutating smoke test passed on this Mac.

6. Run your first Mission

  1. Press the violet + Create button in the sidebar (or ⌘K → Create Task).
  2. Pick the Code lane, choose a connected repository, and describe the work.
  3. If the brief looks multi-surface, confirm the Create & Plan Mission prompt to run it as a Mission rather than a single task.
  4. The launch card checks this Mac — Ready on this Mac means a signed-in, tested seat and a free mission slot. Press Start.

The Mission drives the CLI on this Mac and reports progress on the task page. When the work verifies, the Mission opens a draft pull request on the repo — or hands off the branch, depending on the delivery mode — for you to review and merge on GitHub.

7. Known limits

  • macOS only. Desktop builds for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs; there are no Windows or Linux builds.
  • Keep Desktop open and the Mac awake. The app reports a signed heartbeat every 15 seconds and drops offline after 45 seconds. While a Mission owns the Mac, Desktop asks macOS to stay awake — but a sleeping, lid-closed, or quit app stalls the run.
  • Supported agents: Claude Code and Codex. Early access supports these two. Codex is labeled preview in the app. Other agents may appear in the seat list (Cursor, Grok, OpenCode, Devin), but they aren't supported during early access, so don't rely on them for Missions.
  • Local only. Cloud/hosted execution is locked on this early path — Missions run on this Mac.
  • Your subscription quota. Runs ride on your own Claude/ChatGPT plan. Provider-side overage settings (like pay-as-you-go in the provider account) are yours to manage.
  • One Desktop session per Mac. The app enrolls this Mac once with a device identity in Keychain.
  • Concurrency. Up to 2 local Missions run at once by default, at most 2 per provider seat.

8. Getting help and sending feedback

Both open the same feedback widget:

  • Account menu (bottom of the sidebar) → Send feedback
  • ⌘K command palette → Send feedback